Sulṭān Maḥmūd, fleeing wounded from the battle with Sher Khān, turned to meet Sultān Muḥammad Humāyun, the Emperor. At the time when Sultān Humāyun the Emperor captured the fort of Chunar, Sultān Maḥmūd arriving at Darvishpura,* and meeting the Emperor, and using much cajolery and persuasion, requested the Emperor to invade Bengal. The Emperor, taking pity on Maḥmūd, left Mirzā Dost Beg* in charge of the fort of Chunar, and in the beginning of 945 A.H.* raised the standard of march towards the conquest of Bengal. Sher Khān,* learning about this, despatched Jallāl Khān and Khawāṣ Khān to defend the pass of Teliagadhī, which leads to Bengal. And this Telīagadhi and Sakrigalī is a place between the provinces of Behar and Bengal, it is very impregnable; it is flanked on one side by a lofty hill and a dense forest which are quite impassable, and on another side by the river Ganges, to ford which is very difficult. Emperor Humāyun detached Jahāngir Beg* Mughal to capture Telīagadhī and Sakrigalī. On the day that Jahāngir Beg reached that place, just after he had dismounted, Jallāl Khān and Khawāṣ Khān, marching up quickly with an efficient force, attacked him. The Mughal forces, unable to cope, were vanquished, and Jahāngir Beg, getting wounded, in a hapless condition, retreated to the Emperor’s camp.* But when Emperor Humāyun himself marched up to Teliagadhī and Sakrigalī, Jallāl Khān and Khawāṣ Khān, seeing their inability to stand the Emperor’s onslaught, fled towards the hills, and from thence, to Sher Khān at Gaūr. The Imperial army, forcing its way easily through that narrow defile, marched up, stage by stage. And when the Imperial camp halted at Kohal Gāon (Colgong), Maḥmūd Shāh, who was in the company of the Emperor, heard that his two sons who had been taken prisoners by Jallāl Khān, had been slain. From this grief and affliction, he pined away day by day, and in a short time died.* And since Sher Khān, on hearing about the approach of the Imperial forces, became anxious, he removed the treasures of the kings of Gaūr and Bengal, fled towards Rāḍhā,* and from thence towards the hills of Jhārkand.* Emperor Humāyun captured without opposition the city of Gaūr*, which was the capital of Bengal, and owing to the ominous nature of its name, he changed it to Jinnatabad, and introduced the Imperial Khutba and coin. The ports of Sunārgāon and Chātgāon (Chittagong), etc., came into the possession of the Emperor. For some time, the Emperor lived in ease and comfort, and did not pursue Sher Khan, and made light of the enemy. Three months had not yet passed, since his stay in that city, when owing to the badness of the climate of that place, many horses and camels died, and many soldiers fell ill. Suddenly, the news was received that the Afghāns, marching by way of Jhārkand, had captured the fort of Rohtas,* and that leaving a force for the defence of the fort, Sher Khān himself had marched to Monghyr, and had put to the sword the Emperor’s grandees, who were there. And the news of the successful rebellion of Mirzā Hindal which had come to pass at Delhi,* was also received. The Emperor becoming auxious on the a receipt of the news from Delhi, appointed Jahangir Qulī Beg* Governor of Bengal, and leaving Ibrāhim Beg, who was one of the principal Omra, with five thousand select cavalry in the former’s company, himself swiftly marched back towards Agra. This happened in 946 A.H.
When Emperor Humāyun in the year 946 A.H. withdrew towards Agra, Sher Khān, apprised of the unpreparedness of the Imperial army and of the rebellion of Mirzā Hindal, set out from the fort of Rohtas with a large army. And at the time, when the Imperial camp arrived at Chausa, capturing the high way, for three months Sher Khān bivouacked facing it,* and caused as much harassment as he could. At length, by way of treachery and stratagem, sending to the Emperor Shaikh Khalīl, the well-known saint who was his spiritual guide, Sher Khān sought for peace. The Emperor, owing to the exigencies of the times, accepted his overtures,* and it was agreed that Bengal and the fort of Rohtas would continue in the possession of Sher Khān, and that the latter would put forth no further pretensions, but that the Imperial coin and Khutba would be in force in those provinces. Sher Khān, taking his oath on the holy Qorān, accepted these terms; and the Imperial army were re-assured by this oath. But Sher Khān, on the following day, with an efficient and well-equipped Afghān force, taking the Imperial army by surprise, did not allow it time to rally into ranks, and after fighting became victorious, and closed the ferries where boats were moored. Owing to this cause, the king as well as the beggar, the high as well as the low, became dispirited and straitened, and being hardpressed by the Afghāns, plunged pell-mell into the river Ganges, so that besides the Hindustanīs, nearly twenty thousand Mughals got drowned. The Emperor also, plunging into the river, with the help of a water-carrier, with great difficulty crossed over to the bank of safety, and with a small number of followers, the cup of whose lives was not yet full to the brim, set out for Agra. Sher Khān, after gaining this strange victory, returned to Bengal, fought repeatedly with Jahāngir Qulī Beg, and at length by way of deception and treachery, invited him to his presence, and slew him and his retinue. And putting to the sword the remainder of the Imperial army who were at other places, he introduced the Khutba and the coin after his own name, and brought the provinces of Bengal and Behār absolutely under his domination. And from that time he assumed the title of Sher Shāh,* and that year devoting himself to the settlement of his kingdom, attained great power and pomp. At the end of the year, leaving Khizr Khān to rule over Bengal, he himself started for Agra. And from that side, Humāyun’s force, despite the fraternal dissensions, consisting of one hundred thousand soldiers, marched forward to encounter him. And in the year 947 A.H.* on the tenth day of the month of Muharram, in the neighbourhood of Qanauj, on the banks of the river Ganges, the contending hosts faced each other. And whilst the Mughal forces were preparing to encamp at this stage, nearly fifty thousand Afghān cavalry dashed up. The Imperial army, without fighting, was routed, and Sher Shāh chasing it up to the river, marched forward to Agra.
When Khizr Khān was appointed Governor of Bengal on behalf of Sher Shāh, he married a daughter of one of the kings of Bengal,* and in his mode of living, and in his paraphernalia of comforts and luxuries, observed the kingly mode. And when Sher Shāh at Agra came to know about this, exercising foresight, he deemed it proper to adopt remedial measures against the disease before it shewed itself, and swiftly marched to Bengal. And when Khizr Khān went forward to receive him, Sher Shāh imprisoning him, divided the province of Bengal amongst several tribal chiefs, and appointed Qaẓī Faẓilat, who was one of the learned scholars of Agra, and who was distinguished for his virtues, honesty and trustworthiness, to be the over-lord, and entrusting to his hands the power of making peace and war in the country, he himself returned to Agra.*